1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a network facsimile apparatus capable of performing transmission and reception of facsimile data and e-mail data connecting to a PSTN and a network such as the internet or LAN.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a method of reusing facsimile received data by combining an internet FAX and a WWW server has been proposed. The method utilizes the function of the internet FAX which converts data received from the PSTN into an e-mail.
FIG. 1 illustrates a system structure of the case of performing facsimile transmission and reception using an internet FAX and a WWW server.
Image data received at internet FAX 1101 via the PSTN is converted into an attached file format to an e-mail at internet FAX 1101 and is transmitted to WWW server 1103 as an attached file of e-mail.
The e-mail with the attached file transferred from internet FAX 1101 is received at e-mail server 1102 via a network. The e-mail with the attached file received at e-mail server 1102 is transferred to WWW server 1103 that is a destination again via the network.
WWW server 1103 stores the attached file of e-mail as image data to link to a homepage for facsimile reception. The storage of facsimile received data is finished at this point.
In order to fetch received data into client machine 1104, a user starts a WWW browser at client machine 1104 and accesses to the homepage for facsimile reception at WWW server 1103. The user reads out an image data file at client machine 1104 via the network from WWW server 1103.
The above facsimile communication system remains the problem that the network traffic is increased because the image data with large capacity is transferred over a network many times. Incorporating a WWW server to an internet facsimile is an effective way to suppress increases of network traffic. In this case, a larger number of users use the internet facsimile incorporated with a WWW server than a traditional facsimile because a sender and a recipient both access to the internet facsimile.
In the case where a large number of users use a single internet facsimile as described above, many users are affected by even a minor trouble occurred in the internet facsimile function such as facsimile communication function, e-mail communication function, server function and printer function. Therefore, it is desired that a user is always able to easily know a current status of the internet facsimile.
An object of the present invention is to provide a network facsimile apparatus for enabling a client to easily observe a status of each section of the network facsimile apparatus in homepage format.
The present invention provides a network facsimile apparatus for enabling a client to observe the latest status icon in homepage format, by switching a status icon registered in a structured document for displaying status icons, corresponding to a status change, while transmitting the structured document corresponding to a request from the client.
The present invention provides a network facsimile apparatus having a storage for storing a structured document for displaying a status icon of each section of the network facsimile apparatus, an icon switching function for switching a status icon in the structured document corresponding to a status change of respective device, and a WWW server for enabling a structured document stored in the storage to be browsed.
The network facsimile configured described above enables a structured document stored in the storage to be browsed, while switches a status icon in the structured document corresponding to a status change of respective device, thereby making it possible to present a status icon in which the latest status is reflected to a client.
In addition, the present invention provides a network facsimile which refers to a table used in relating a plurality of divided device statuses to a plurality of icons and selects a changed status icon of a device whose status change is detected.
According to the above processing, since a plurality of divided device statuses are related to a plurality of status icons in the table, it is possible to determine a corresponding status icon promptly among from divided device statuses to rewrite a status icon name in the structured document, thereby making it possible to change a status icon readily.
In addition, the present invention provides a network facsimile which has a structured document in which update time and an instruction for instructing a client fetching the structured document while displaying an icon to request a file of the structured document again to the WWW server section when a predetermined time duration passes.
According to the above processing, since a structured document in which the latest status is always reflected by the icon switching section is transmitted to a client periodically, it is possible to automatically update a status icon to be displayed to the client.